Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-01-05

| Hiiu, Ou LIS IlRut uduu anu Oii LIS lcit'-
And there came forth spirit and stoot
before the Lord and said," etc.
| From this it appears that lying spiri
was in heaven where ''the Lord was sitting
on bis throne, and all the host of heav er
standing by him, on his right hand and OF
his left" As far as we can see, this may
have been, and probably was, the same
place where Satan presented himself in
Jobs time, and this lying spirit himseli
may have been Satan.
InZechariah iii, Joshua, the high priest,
is seen standing before the angel of the
Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand
to resist him. And the Lord said unto Sa-
tan, t Lord rebuke thee, o Satan" Herr
Satan is seen again in the presence of the
Lord, wherever that is.
But the 18th chapter Of Revelation goes
further: "And there was war in heaven;
Michael and bis angels fought against thu
dragon; and the dragon fought and hi
angels, and prevailed not; neitheir was then
place found any more in heaven. And the
great dragon was cast out, that red serpent
called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiv-
eth the whole world: he was cast out int,
the earth, and his angels were cast out with
him. There follows rejoicing in heaven
but woe to the earth and the Inhabiters Of
the sea, "for the Devil is come down unto
you, having great wrath, because he know
eth that he hath but short time.'' (Rev.
xii, 7-12).
From this passage it is clear that the
Devil and his angels at some time in thei
history are in heaven. that they lose thei'
place there after a struggle to retain it, and
that this is a short time before the end OF
his career.
Here arises the interesting question, 'Is
Satan with his angels now in heaven, or
has this casting out already taken place. -
In Luke x. IS, when the seventy when
the Lord had sent out, returned from their
mission with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the
devils (demons) are subject unto us through
thy name," the Lord said unto them, al
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven
We might suppose this to mean the casting
out described in Rev. xii, aud doubtless that
was in our Lords mind, but not accom-
plished at that time. The Lord could see
it before it occurred. And the casting out
of demons by his disciples was beginning
or sample of what would end in Satan's be
ing cast down from heaven with all his an
gels.
We find a similar anticipation of the fu-
ture by our Lord in John xii: 20-32. Ger
tain Greeks came up to the feast and desir-
ed to see Jesus. When told of it, He said,
"The hour is come that the Son of man
should be glorifed." He goes on to speak
of His death, the dark shadow of the cross
comes over His spirit. He cries to the Faith
er to save Him from that hour, and after
wards to glorify His name. The answer
comes to Him audibly from the Father, and
Jesus says, "Now is the judgment of this
world; now shall the prince of this world
be cast out. And !, if be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto Me-
1t seems, then, that the coming to Him
of few Gentiles desiring to see Him, sug-
gests to His mind the Cross by which He
is to draw all men unto Him, and on which
the great question is to be decided between
the seed of the woman and the serpent, as
to which of the two is to be the prince of
this world. Jesus sees the end as if full
filled; the prince of this world, Satan,
judged and because of His own humilia-
ton on the Cross where Satan is conquered,
sees every knee brought to bow to Jesus
and confess Him as Lord, to the glory of
God the Father. (Phil. ii-6-11.]
We conclude, therefore, that the Savieur's
vision in Luke x, of Satan's fall from
heaven is only an anticipation in His omnis-
after in Rev. xii, as still future.
> is Satan, then, still in heaven?
No believer in the Scriptures doubts3his
power and activity on the earth. but does
the range of his influence extend to heaven?
He is called in the New Testament "The
god of this world" "The prince of this
world, "The prince of the power of the
air, the Spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience." Eph. ii--2.
This last passage may throw light on the
whole subject.
The air is in Scripture called heaven, as in
the phrases, ''the bids of the air." and
"the fowls of heaven." And Eph. ii. 2,
would seem to teach that the seat of Sa-
tan's power is the air.
Another passage, Eph. vi. 12, can not be
over looked if we would bring together all
the light Scripture gives us on this topic.
It's there said, "For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness Cor wicked spirits) in high
places" Here the place of the Christians
conflict with Satan and the other wicked
spirits is said to be Sin high places" The
Greek expression so translated in this pas
sage, occurs in only four other passages in
the New Testament, and these are all in
this epistle to the Ephesians. The first is
in chapter i. 90, where mention is made of
Gods mighty power, (Which he wrought
in Christ, when He raised Him from the
dead, and set Him at His own right hand
in the heavenly places.
1t is correctly translated here Gin the
heavenly places" Our translators had no
difficulty in supposing our risen Lord to be
tin the heavenly places" but it seems they
could not conceive Of wicked spirits being
there, and SO when they came to Eph. vi,
IL, they translated the words, '.in high
places" In all the other passages they
say correctly SIN the heavenly places. :"
See Eph i, 8; ii, 6; iii. 10.
The wsight, therefore, of Eph. vi, 10, is
clearly in favor of Satan's being still in
heaven. Another interesting Scripture in
this connection is Heb. tx, %. sit was
therefore necessary that the patterns OF
things in the heavens should be purified
with these; but the heavenly things them
selves with better sacrifices than these.''
Here the blood of Christ is spoken of, in
contrast with that of the Levitical sacri.
fees, as necessary for the publication of
those heavenly things of which the taber-
nacle was pattern. Now what could this
needed such publication, except that caus-
ed by the presence of Satan and wicked
Spirits in heaven? And it would seem that
wherever sin has shown itself in all the
universe, there the blood of Christ is Gods
vindication, and is necessary for His vindi-
cation. And thus the mighty transaction
on the cross is not limited in its influence to
this little planet on which it occurred, but
will vindicate Gods character and glory to
the remotest bounds of His creation.
1t may serve to relieve the minds of seme
who are Mortified at the mere suggestion OF
the DEVILS being still in heaven, to reflect
that we know from Scripture that there are
three heavens, if no more. Paul was caught
up to the third heaven @ Cor. xii, q. In
to this we may reverently suppose Satan
never comes, but only into the first, or low
er heaven, and that his baleful power il
limited in its range to cur atmosphere
which is in some sense so peculiarly the
seat of his power that thence he derives
his name, ''the prince of the power of the
air. And that it is his power in this sea
which enables him so to compass the whelt
earth that ne is called ''the Spirit that nov
worketh in the children of disobedience,
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